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Monthly Archives: January 2013

So far I have covered two ways to make money on Amazon (sell your stuff and become an affiliate). Today I will be talking about the third way to make money on Amazon. This is by far the most under-used and least appreciated way of “working” for Amazon, but I am hoping some of you will benefit from this discussion.

Amazon.com moneymaking opportunity #3: Become a “Turker”

A “turker” is someone who does “HIT’s” for Amazon’s mturk job board. HIT stands for “Human Intelligence Task”. Apparently computers can’t do everything yet and they still need us humans for something! There are people who do this FULL TIME for a LIVING! This is their actual JOB!

According to the Mturk website:

“As a Mechanical Turk Worker you:

Can work from home

Choose your own work hours

Get paid for doing good work”

If you have an Amazon account you should be able to sign in through this link HERE to set up your Mturk account and start working! Mturk is a site where patience really pays off. The more HIT’s you complete, the better your rating and the more HIT’s are available to you. You can choose to get paid via Amazon gift cards or Direct Deposit. Once you have been Turking for a little while (days, not months!) YOU decide when you want to be paid and how much you want to take out of your Mturk account! There really are people who do this as their full time job! It works!

I HIGHLY suggest that if you decide to become a Turker, you join a web forum so that you can get good advice from other Turkers. That sort of information is invaluable! You should also download a program titled “Turkopticon”. When you are looking for good HIT’s to do, this program will show you at a glance if it is a good job to take or not. I cannot recommend it enough and it is FREE!

Hopefully, after yesterdays post you have a feel for what Amazon is and how it works as a sellers marketplace as well as a buyers marketplace. Today I will be discussing the second way to make money using Amazon.

Amazon.com moneymaking opportunity #2: Become an Affiliate

Okay, okay. Before you start telling me you don’t have a website or anyone to sell to or that you don’t like “selling stuff to people”, hear me out. I am not talking about hard-selling. I am not talking about approaching people and asking them to buy from you. What I am talking about is much casual and simpler.

Let’s say that you bought a dvd movie from Amazon and you loved it! You hop onto Facebook ( or Twitter or Myspace or Pinterest or whatever!) and post about it on your page and tell all your friends how great the movie was! That is a situation where you could be making some money!

To see what I am talking about Amazon has a whole page setup for an overview on how it works and how to join for free! You can see all of that info and more HERE AT AMAZONSubscribe in a reader

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I am going out on a ledge here and assuming that everyone reading this post knows at least a little bit about the website Amazon.com. If you aren’t familiar with it, CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT AMAZON IS ALL ABOUT and come back when you’re done. I’ll wait.

In short, Amazon is probably the largest online retailer selling just about everything under the sun. What I bet you don’t know is that there are FOUR WAYS to make money with Amazon online. Yep. Four ways. While most people know of one or two of the ways, very few people know all four ways. So, each day for the rest of the week, I will be discussing each of these income opportunities. You don’t need a website or experience to do any of these jobs. All you need is an Amazon account (which is free to open).

Amazon.com moneymaking opportunity #1: Sell your stuff!

Amazon is a great alternative to using Ebay or Craigslist. Amazon works as the middle man in this situation. Once you list your items for sale, when someone searches for the item that you are selling and they pull up the product page, the results show new and used items for sale. They show items for sale by Amazon and items for sale by individuals (you!). So, let’s look at an example of what I am talking about.

If you click on the blu-ray image picture above, it takes you to the product page. On the right hand side of that page you see where you can add it to your cart to buy it or add it to your “wish list”. Below those boxes (still on the right hand side of the page) you see a box labeled “more buying choices”. At the bottom of that box you see a clickable box titled “Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon” If you had this blu-ray player and you wanted to sell it, that is where you would click to start creating the listing.

I think that Amazon is easier to use than Ebay because you don’t need to take your own pictures. Amazon has stock pictures for all the items for sale on their site. All you need to do is find the item you want to sell on Amazon’s website then click on the “Sell on Amazon” button and list your item and price for shipping. Simple. Straightforward. Then just wait for your item to sell (Amazon will send you a notice when it sells) and you ship it out to the customer. Amazon will collect the payment from the buyer and then distribute the payment to you on their payment schedule.

I have sold a few items through Amazon and have never had an issue with the customers or with getting payment from Amazon. Everything has always gone smoothly. If you have some items to sell and don’t want to deal with holding a garage sale I strongly suggest you consider selling them on Amazon. This could also be a moneymaker for you if you sell your friends and families items (that they want to get rid of) and keep a commission for yourself!Subscribe in a reader

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If you enjoy talking to people on the phone and data entry then you should consider trying to snag a job as a virtual call center operator. Virtual call center operators do many things for clients: answer inbound calls, data entry, outbound services, handle mail order and catalog orders, etc. They work from home and pajamas are acceptable work attire! Work around your schedule and don’t worry about long drive times anymore!

ACDdirectis a company that offers contact center solutions for various companies. They allow their operators to work whatever times and days they want to work. You set your schedule! Your job is to process calls for their customers using your skill set. If you think that you can handle this then click over to ACDdirectand register to become an Agent with their company.Subscribe in a reader

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I worked hard last year to make sure that I had enough money to buy nice gifts for my family for the holidays. I researched purchases, earned some Amazon giftcards through swagbucks (you can see here how to get a free tv like I did from swagbucks) and saved a little cash each month so that I would not have to worry about how to pay for gifts. All of this planning paid off! I got some really great deals! One of the deals I was most excited about were some Beyblades that I bought for Ben and my nephew.

They were super cool! They lit up! They spun! The packaging said “Let it Rip!” I kept thinking how neat they were that they lit up when you pulled the strip and how cool they would look when they were spinning in battle! I knew the boys would be thrilled!

Christmas day went off without a hitch. Sure enough, the boys were excited about the super cool, new Beyblades! “Wow! They light up! Yeah!” They had so much stuff to play with that they didn’t actually open the Beyblades until that evening. My sister called and asked if we had opened the Beyblades yet. Nope. Not yet. She said that they didn’t work. What?!?!?!?!? I tried them in the store ! They light up great! They spin great! She said “Yeah but they are just flashlights.” WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Sure enough I tried Ben’s Beyblade and all it did was spin and light up. Nowhere on the packaging that it came with (it has since been changed) did it say that it wasn’t a “real” Beyblade. It was only a flashlight. How disappointing. I immediately emailed the LARGE toy company that owns the Beyblade name. They sent me a response that they don’t manufacture ALL the Beyblade items and they couldn’t help me.

I emailed them back again saying (name of LARGE toy companies deleted where ***** are):

“So, although ***** is all over the Beyblade name, and I bought a Beyblade branded product, there is nothing you can do for me as a consumer? How is that possible? That is insulting. I have never even heard of ***** ****** ********** and they certainly aren’t mentioned on the Beyblade website (where it says ****** everywhere). I am beyond irritated. This is NOT right! I would think that a toy company that manufactures the Beyblade items would want their customers to be satisfied? How can I get a resolution to this issue? There must be something you can do. It is hard for me to accept that a company as large as ******, who makes the Beyblades items for children, just doesn’t care that they disappointed children on Christmas day and that they are not interested in correcting the issue? Seriously? ESPECIALLY since the EXACT ITEM that I purchased was listed as a selection under Beyblades on the subject of the email I previously sent you (you know, where I am supposed to select the product I am emailing about. WHY would the EXACT ITEM be listed there if you don’t provide customer support for it?) There must be something you can do to make this right. Please let someone else review my complaint and come up with an alternative solution because your previous response is unsatisfactory. Thank you in advance for your help with this matter.”

Long story short, they apologized and sent us two REAL replacement Beyblades. Don’t take NO for an answer. Be polite but state your case. You have the right to complain if you aren’t satisfied with an product or service you have purchased.Subscribe in a reader

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Do you live in the city that never sleeps? Maybe you reside in Mickey Mouse’s backyard? Do you call the Windy City your home? Are the Amish your neighbors? Do you love where you live in the Garden State? Wherever you call home, it is certain that there are tourists that visit your city. People have such varied interests and love to travel! That’s where you step in and snag a job ….

Consider this: people travel because they want to experience a new place, sounds, sights, food, cultures, etc. Who better to show them how things REALLY are, where you are, than you? Thanks to Vayable, becoming a tour guide for your town or city (and making some money) has just become easier!

Vayable is a website where you can join and post your tour offering and buyers can sign up to take your guided tours! What a great idea! Keep in mind that this doesn’t even have to be a “touristy” type thing. This can be a culture thing (anyone up for an underground ethnic food tour in Queens?) or even an outdoors thing (how about a guided hike along Lake Victoria?). The possibilities are endless! Interestingly enough, right now there appears to only be ONE tour listed for Orlando…… The market is wide open!

Do you live near a sports arena? A local theater? A stadium? An airport? The local expressway? In a big city? Near the hotel where the President is arriving? On a parade route? Maybe you would be a good candidate to snag a job parking cars!

Here’s how it works: over at ParkAtMyHouse you can set up an account and list your parking space (driveway, etc) for rent. You can even add a picture with a description and pricing for parking at your place. You will be emailed once there is an inquiry or booking for your space. ParkAtMyHouse handles the payments and transactions and your fee is transferred to you once the booking has ended. Apparently there are people earning thousands each year doing this!

I know that here in Orlando, parking for events downtown and near the big venues (the arena, Bob Carr theater, Citrus Bowl, etc) can cost $20 or more per car for just a few hours! Parking at our airport is expensive too! I can definitely see why people would use this service. Remember, you can probably fit more than one car in your parking area (we can comfortably fit four). That means extra money!

In addition to the regular Occupied Life postings and legitimate work at home jobs info that I have been focusing on, I am helping to host more blog giveaways this year! As a matter of fact, every link you see on the list at the bottom of this posting has a unique New Year’s Giveaway that you can enter! That’s a total of twenty five different blog giveaways!

Going with the New Year’s theme, one lucky subscriber to Occupied Life will win a copy of Loral Langemeier’s book “Millionaire Maker’s Guide to Wealth Cycle Investing”. I own many of Loral’s books and they are GREAT! Full of useful information and she explains how to “Build your assets into a lifetime of financial freedom!” If you want to build wealth this year, then this book belongs in your collection!

This giveaway will start at 12:01 am EST January 24, 2013 and you can enter until January 30, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen via the random number tool over at Random.org, on or before February 1, 2013 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be notified via email and will have 72 hours to respond. If no response is received within the 72 hour window, then a new winner will be chosen.Subscribe in a reader

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ON LEGITIMATE WORK FROM HOME JOBS !

Okay so you used to work at a “real job” but now you’re at home. Maybe you are a stay at home parent taking care of the house or maybe you lost your job and haven’t been able to snag a job since that horrible day. Whatever the situation, you used to be a professional in your field and now you’re not. Boy have I got something for you!

Over at Just Answer, they pay professionals to be experts and answer questions in their related fields. Now, before you go saying “Well, I’m not a doctor so this doesn’t apply to me. I can’t do this!” WAIT! The list of experts that they are looking for is long and there are so many categories! Honestly I was really surprised! Sure, they are looking for doctors and people in the legal field. BUT they are also looking for people who are experts on pools, guns, antiques, cars, weddings, math and even clock repair! There is something for everyone over there! Click over to JustAnswer and check it out!

About Me

I am a mom of four wonderful children and Gammie to two beautiful grandchildren! I have three girls (ages 25, 22, and 15) and one son (age 10) who was diagnosed 7 years ago with Autism. I am a former paralegal, a member of Mensa and currently a stay-at-home-mom in Central Florida. I enjoy finding new ways to help my family stretch every dollar and make it count! If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE